Yzerman Helps Red Wings Beat Devils

<br>Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull and the ageless Detroit Red Wings are doing more than just reaching milestones _ they're showing they can still beat the best. <br><br>Yzerman moved past Mario Lemieux

Friday, January 30th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull and the ageless Detroit Red Wings are doing more than just reaching milestones _ they're showing they can still beat the best.

Yzerman moved past Mario Lemieux for sixth place on the NHL's career scoring list with his 1,702nd point in Detroit's 5-2 victory over the Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

``I can't even count that much,'' teammate Tomas Holmstrom said. ``That's a lot of points. It's incredible.''

Yzerman ranks behind Marcel Dionne (1,771), Ron Francis (1,778), Gordie Howe (1,850), Mark Messier (1,869) and Wayne Gretzky (2,857) on the career points list.

Detroit's Kris Draper reached 20 goals for the first time in his 14-season career, and Hull scored his 18th in the second period.

The 39-year-old right wing got his 718th career goal on Oct. 29 to move into fourth place on the league's career list. Two weeks ago, Yzerman became the seventh player to reach 1,700 points.

``Stevie has been one of the top players in the league for 20 years, he's a good guy character-wise,'' said 43-year-old Devils center Igor Larionov, who left Detroit as a free agent last summer.

In other NHL games, it was: Washington 5, Carolina 3; Nashville 6, Columbus 4; Tampa Bay 5, Pittsburgh 1; Boston 2, the New York Islanders 1 in overtime; Vancouver 4, St. Louis 2; Montreal 3, Minnesota 2 in overtime; Ottawa 4, Phoenix 1; Edmonton 5, Chicago 2; and Colorado 3, Los Angeles 3.

Yzerman assisted on Holmstrom's goal, which gave the Red Wings a 4-2 lead midway through the third period. When his feat was recognized by the public-address announcer, Yzerman stood and raised a hand to the crowd.

``Every time we make an announcement, I assume it's about Steve,'' Detroit coach Dave Lewis said. ``It's pretty constant around here.''

Curtis Joseph made 31 saves for the Red Wings, who also got goals from Jamie Rivers and Mathieu Schneider in their return from a 1-2-2 road trip.

``The trip wasn't as good as we wanted it to be,'' Joseph said. ``So playing New Jersey and playing at home, it was a good win for us.''

Erik Rasmussen and Turner Stevenson scored for the Devils, who had won three straight. Martin Brodeur made only 15 saves.

Bruins 2, Islanders 1, OT

At Boston, Glen Murray scored his second goal of the game 2:25 into overtime, and Andrew Raycroft made 23 saves.

Canucks 4, Blues 2

At St. Louis, Magnus Arvedson scored two goals for the second straight game and Vancouver extended its winning streak to four.

Daniel Sedin had a goal and two assists for the Canucks. The slumping Blues are 0-4-1 in their last five games and 5-11-5 in their past 21.

Canadiens 3, Wild 2, OT

At St. Paul, Minn., Richard Zednik scored with 27.9 seconds left in overtime and Montreal overcame a 2-0 deficit to snap a three-game losing skid.

Mike Ribeiro, who tied it in the third period, assisted on Zednik's goal. Patrice Brisebois also had a goal and an assist, and Mathieu Garon stopped 27 shots in place of Jose Theodore.

Lightning 5, Penguins 1

At Tampa, Fla., Martin St. Louis had a goal and an assist, and the Lightning sent Pittsburgh to its eighth straight loss. The All-Star forward has nine goals _ including five in the past three games _ and 16 points during an eight-game point streak.

The biggest development for the Penguins took place before the game when the team announced goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, the No. 1 pick in the June draft, will return to his junior team in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, on Friday.

Predators 6, Blue Jackets 4

At Columbus, Ohio, Scott Walker tied the Nashville franchise record for career goals. Walker's 15th goal gave him 81 with the Predators, tying Cliff Ronning's mark.

Trevor Letowski had two goals and three points for the Blue Jackets.

Capitals 5, Hurricanes 3

At Raleigh, N.C., Bates Battaglia broke a third-period tie and Peter Bondra scored twice for Washington. Justin Williams had two goals in the second period for Carolina, which has lost all four meetings with the Capitals this season.

Robert Lang also scored for Washington.

Senators 4, Coyotes 1

At Glendale, Ariz., Jason Spezza scored twice and added an assist for Ottawa, which won for the fourth time in five games to pass Toronto for the Northeast Division lead.

Oilers 5, Blackhawks 2

At Edmonton, Alberta, Shawn Horcoff scored twice and the Oilers extended Chicago's club-record road losing streak to 19 games.

Tommy Salo made 30 saves for Edmonton, which ended a three-game losing skid.

Chicago hasn't won on the road since beating Nashville 2-1 on Nov. 7. The Blackhawks have one road point since, losing 3-2 in overtime against Vancouver on Nov. 20.

Avalanche 3, Kings 3

At Los Angeles, Derek Armstrong scored the tying goal with 3:15 left in the third period and the Kings rallied from two goals down for a draw.

Milan Hejduk and Alex Tanguay each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who extended their road unbeaten streak to seven games. They're 12-1-2 in their last 15 overall and lead the NHL with 69 points.

Peter Forsberg had an assist, extending his point streak to 11 games.